Mara Sfara Artist Statement: Empathy for Animals Helps Everyone

Art can help us connect with animals in ways that help both ourselves and our planet.

In art, animals can be endeared to us by focusing on their remarkable beauty, their interactions with each other and with humans, and their ability to adapt to their environments. This careful watching and understanding can help evoke emotions of respect and admiration. If we can experience a love for all species, then we can start to treat animals better – and treat each other better, too. Art–and the careful observation and emotional connection art demands–can heal so much in all of our relationships.

Animals experience many of the same emotions as humans, and we can really begin to understand their journey through art. We can inspire many to feel empathy and interconnectedness by realizing that animals and their environments make life better for everyone.

Mara Sfara is a representational painter and a contemporary sculptor, multi sensory kinetic artist and artistic jeweler. Her kinetic sculptures blend traditional artwork with new media creating her own unique fantasy worlds. Her kinetic sculpture In the Gardens of Mount Olympus is currently on display in the Plaster Cast Gallery of the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum. Sfara is currently also showing art at the Emillions Art gallery.